The New Title IX

[GeauxSioux]

http://news.yahoo.co...--politics.html

Breaking new ground, the U.S. Education Department is telling schools they must include students with disabilities in sports programs or provide equal alternative options. The directive, reminiscent of the Title IX expansion of athletic opportunities for women, could bring sweeping changes to school budgets and locker rooms for years to come.

Although the letter is directed to elementary and secondary schools and the department hasn't provided comparable guidance to colleges, some of the principles in the letter will be read closely by administrators in higher education, said Scott Lissner, the Americans with Disabilities coordinator at Ohio State University and president of the Association on Higher Education and Disability.

"The logic that's in there applies us to us as well as it does to K-12, for the most part," Lissner said.

While slightly different portions of civil rights law apply to colleges and universities, "their approach in this letter was really more about the basic underlying equity and civil rights issues" that colleges also must ensure they're applying to pass muster under the law.

Generally, Lissner said, as colleges review their policies, the effects would more likely be felt in intramural and club sports programs on campus than intercollegiate ones, Lissner said. That's because relatively few people can meet the standards to compete in intercollegiate sports, and nothing in the guidance requires a change in such standards. But the purpose of intramural and club sports is broader, and colleges may have to do more to ensure students with disabilities aren't deprived of a chance to compete.

[jodcon]

While I agree disabled people should have every option available, there are so many questions this brings up I don't know how it will happen...

1) Schools are struggling for money and dropping sports now, where will the extra revenue come from? And it will have to be boys and girls, so cost X 2.

2) Are there even enough disabled students at any given school who desire to play a particular sport to form a team? Or are they thinking about a few individuals from multiple schools getting together for selected solo events?

At first glance this looks like a can of worms, be interesting to see how it proceeds.

[Smoggy]

Big schools in Twin Cities area have what's called adaptive sports for disabled. Soccer and floor hockey were big at the school I worked at. Up here there aren't even enough kids to allow something like this. If they are talking inclusion on an established school team...well the older you get the more difficult and dangerous that could become depending on the disability. I really don't see how it's feasible and there are programs out there for these kids to enjoy athletics, but they aren't associated with schools.